· As a medical technical writer, you may choose to go free lance or accept an employment position in healthcare organizations

· The freelance option is for those who have some savings to depend on while growing their clientele. Otherwise the start period could be very stressful financially.

· The information to be put in writing is usually in the form of medical manuscripts from individuals or research organizations in a disorganized manner.

· The information will need to be organized and formatted to meet the standards of various journal or magazine publishing companies.

· An experienced medical writer will be familiar with formats of big organizations like the American Medical Journal.

· When attending interviews a medical writer would need to present a portfolio of properly formatted writings, whether published or unpublished, in hard copy or electronic copy.

· A medical writer must double check content information with the author, and verify spellings and punctuations with quality word processing software, since there is almost zero tolerance for typos or misinformation in medical writing

· Over time a non-medical medical copy writer may take courses in basic medical sciences to qualify them to write original articles or books in hard copy or online

· How much a medical writer makes annually depends on level of education, experience, output quality, and the organization he / she works for. The pharmaceutical companies tend to pay more and, of course, are most demanding.

Medical reporters can earn from as low as $ 35, 000 per year to as high as 80, 000 per year depending of the above factors

· A freelance medical writer may need only high school education and healthcare work experience.

· But employers tend to prefer medical writers who have college degrees in medical writing, technical writing, basic medical sciences, or English language.

· There are many universities and community colleges now offering courses geared towards medical writing. For more information visit http://www.amwa.org